B--Pennington Biomedical Laboratories shall conduct chemical assays on saliva samples.

1)Pursuant to FAR Subpart 13.106-1(b)(1), the U.S. Army RDECOM Contracting Center, Natick Contracting Division, on behalf of the US Army WARSTAR directorate, intends to award a firm fixed price purchase order on a sole source basis to: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins RD, Baton Rouge, LA 70808. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE. RESPONSES WILL BE USED FOR FUTURE ACQUISITIONS ONLY. 2) Nature and description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency's needs: Pennington Biomedical Laboratories shall conduct chemical assays on saliva samples. 3) A demonstration that the proposed contractor is the only source available to provide these services or goods (i.e. unique qualifications, proprietary rights, etc.): This vendor is the only vendor capable of meeting the requirements for the continuous WARSTAR research comparing the biomarkers in saliva. WARSTAR has been using this vendor for the past 4 years to conduct these analysis, due to the complexity of the chemical assays comparison over time and over various research protocols. This vendor has the quality control measures needed to stabilize and compare the results for analysis over the course of time and research protocols. This is a necessity when preparing this data for peer reviewed publication. Changing vendors would be detrimental to the reliability across the already established dataset when conducting data analysis and reporting research results. 4) A description of the market research that was conducted and the results, or a statement of the reason a market research was not conducted: Market research was conducted at the beginning of this project (2006) and the conclusion was that Pennington Biomedical Labs provided ali the necessary chemical assays and maintained ali the quality control measures required. Due to the need for reliability within the established dataset, Pennington is the only source available. Other vendors were used in various other projects and quality control measures were not upheld. 5) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition: Changing vendors would be detrimental in conducting data analysis and reporting research results in peer reviewed publications. 6) A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required: None 7) Interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement to the U.S. Army RDECOM Contracting Center, Natick Contracting Division via e-mail to: contact@example.gov no later than 12:00 Noon (EST) on November 21, 2010. Contracting Office Address: RDECOM Contracting Center - Natick CCRD-NA-SY, Natick Contracting Division Kansas Street, Building 1 Natick, MA 01760-5011